Mr Cockburn is a director of Mainland Minerals Southern, the Gore-based fertiliser business which services Otago and Southland.
Mainland Minerals, which was formed in the late 1980s, operated as a nationwide company until 2007 when it was split up regionally.
Mr Cockburn, his wife Aimee, and Mrs Cockburn's father Gavin Keith purchased the Otago-Southland regions and formed the new company.
Six representatives were now on the road - including Mr Cockburn and Mr Keith - servicing the vast area from south of the Waitaki River, up to Mount Cook and across to the Jacobs River on the West Coast.
On February 24, the company is holding an open day at its Gore manufacturing facility and farmers are invited to tour the plant.
Registrations are essential and must be received by February 21. Buses will be running from Te Anau, Central Otago and Middlemarch.
A lot of upgrades had been done at the plant which had made a "difficult dusty job easy" and increased production "hugely", Mr Cockburn said.
A structural engineer by trade, Mr Cockburn grew up on a high-country sheep and beef property, Mt Prospect Station, at Te Anau.
He studied engineering at Canterbury University, graduating with a masters degree in engineering management.
He was then involved with setting up an export business, and later worked in finance, before joining the fertiliser industry.
He was impressed with the Mainland product, which he thought was "fantastic". The fine particle fertiliser system provided an even, efficient and effective distribution.
When the trio first went in to the business, farmers were receiving "pretty poor" prices for sheep and beef.
But that proved to be an advantage for them, rather than a disadvantage, as farmers were "scratching their heads how to be profitable". When things were going well, they were more reluctant to change, Mr Cockburn said.
The business had grown year-on-year in the five years since they bought it, with increased market share and greater awareness.
Mr Cockburn has a passion for working with farmers and assisting them to maximise their returns from their business.
"To go back and see the changes and how we helped the business, that's the most exciting part of it," he said.
The company could do everything required - controlling the process from sales through to application and follow-up, making the fertiliser and applying it by truck, helicopter or plane - so was a one-stop-shop.
Mainland Minerals South will be at the Southern Field Days at Waimumu this week and the Upper Clutha A and P Show in Wanaka on March 9 and 10.